Do I need to pay

young1

Hello all.
My car insurance is coming to an end and my insurance company has stated I owe them money as the had a technical fault, when I changed my car they didnt add on the extra payment, I wasnt advised there was any more to pay and carried on paying I good faith all was good. It is 10 months down the line at the end of my premium and they say I have to pay it.
DO I NEED TO PAY.
I WAS NOT IMFORMED IT WOULD COST ANY MORE.
IT HAS TAKEN THEM 10MONTHS TO TELL ME.
MY CHOICE NOT TO TAKE THE INSURANCE WAS TAKEN AWAY AS I THOUGHT IT WAS THE SAME PRICE.

PLEASE HELP 

paddyandstumpy

You're within your rights to not pay... but then the insurer is within their rights to cancel the policy from the date of the non payment. 

Having a cancelled policy on your records is far worse than not, and will cause longer term issues. 

Hasbeen

They are informing you now that you owe them money. If you choose not to pay what you owe they will cancel your insurance. You will end up paying hundreds if not thousands over the coming years by having a cancelled policy on record.

Shedman

If I understand this correctly you contacted your insurance company mid term to notify them of a change of vehicle, they said that there would be no change in your premium (which to be frank would be unusual unless it was a very similar vehicle) and sent you revised certificates/schedules etc for the new car with nothing indicating extra monies to pay.  Then some considerable number of months later they are claiming they've made a mistake and that you owe them money. 

On a practical note how much extra are they now charging you and how much would it have cost you in cancellation fees to have cancelled at the point you changed vehicles?   If minimal difference it's probably best just to suck it up and pay and put it down to experience.  

However, if it a significant amount, then on the face of it it sounds to me like you have strong grounds to raise a complaint to the insurance company and if not satisfied with their response then put in a case to the ombudsman.  It's probably best to pay the amount being demanded to avoid any potential cancelled policy issues that Paddy mentions and then to raise the complaint to try and get a refund.  

However, what you presumably don't know is what another insurer would have charged at the time of the change (although if you're now looking at renewal quotes you might now have a better idea) so it might still be deemed reasonable that you end up bearing some if not all of the extra charge.  Out of interest what were the two vehicles as this could indicate whether you should have reasonably expected the premium to have increased (eg a Ford Ka being changed to a Focus ST) and you were effectively 'on notice' that an error had clearly occurred.

oscarward

(which to be frank would be unusual unless it was a very similar vehicle)

When my son changed from a Hyundai i10 to an i20 aviva actually refunded him £20 which was a surprise

young1

Thanks all
So I only have two weeks left on my insurance. Can they still cancel it from 10 months back?
Can they back date the cancellation? 
I had a Mazda 6 the. Changed to a Mazda CX5 
SAME engine and similar in £notes. 
They want an extra £190. 

MovingForwards

So I only have two weeks left on my insurance.
-- ok

Can they still cancel it from 10 months back?
-- potentially, it would be classed as void from inception, meaning your policy is cancelled
-- if its cancelled by them it will cause a huge hike in premiums when you try and get cover. As you seem like a young / new driver, you could potentially be priced off the road

Can they back date the cancellation? 
-- yes, see above

I had a Mazda 6 the. Changed to a Mazda CX5 
SAME engine and similar in £notes. 
-- different car, different repair costs, different risk

They want an extra £190
-- ok, so pay it

Shedman

young1 said:

Thanks all
So I only have two weeks left on my insurance. Can they still cancel it from 10 months back?
Can they back date the cancellation? 
I had a Mazda 6 the. Changed to a Mazda CX5 
SAME engine and similar in £notes. 
They want an extra £190. 

OK thanks for further info.  In my view it wouldn't be unreasonable for someone to assume  that changing between those two vehicles would not necessarily lead to an increased premium, especially if as you say they were of a similar market value, so you probably had no reason to question the absence of a change of premium. . As a layman you are not to know that possibly the CX5 is a higher insurance risk. 

 Don't know the legalities of whether they can back date cancellation (would doubt especially as its their mistake) but it still looks to me as if best course of action is to stump up the £190 (through gritted teeth) and let the insurance run its course so at least you a) get the full years NCD which has a value and b) avoids the risk of them cancelling which would be very costly for years,  and then go the complaint route (followed by ombudsman route if not satisfied).  

Being realistic changing insurers at the time you changed cars might have saved you a bit but you've probably not lost out to the full extent of the £190.

Please keep the thread posted as to what action you take and what outcome you get as its always helpful to get the end picture. Good luck.